1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to string musical instruments which employ frets for the purpose of providing a multiplicity of fixing points corresponding to a musical scale. More specifically, there is disclosed an improved fret architecture which facilitates a musician's ability to color each note by means of techniques which are easily practiced with this invention.
2. Discussion of Relevant Art
There have been several innovations over the years that deal with elements of musical instruments, especially those which are string instruments and employ frets as a means for maintaining a fixed musical scale. The length of an "open" or unfretted string and the spacing of the frets is carefully calibrated, so that when a finger, or other device presses a string to a specific fret, and the string is plucked, the string will vibrate at a specified precise frequency. This frequency is determined by the distance between the aforementioned fret and the bridge, a point of permanent fixture of the string. A musical scale consists of a series of specific frequencies, called notes; and, various notes are played by pressing the string down to various frets and plucking or strumming the strings. A slight vibrato, that is, a transition between a higher pitch and lower pitch on any particular note (done very rapidly) is obtained by rocking the playing finger slightly and longitudinally along the vibrating string. In a modern musical group, where there is perhaps more than one guitar player, certain instrument players strive for a vibrato in order to lend a certain "coloration" to notes, which might be an enhancing characteristic of the ensemble. Even though the vibrato, or variance of pitch from flat to sharp, is a highly sought-after playing characteristic, little has been done, as a discussion of the relevant art will hereinafter show, to acquire the vibrato differently and easier by a change to the physical appearances of the guitar or similar fretted instrument respecting the fret/string/bridge arrangement.
Before discussing the relevant art, which I located during a search of patent records, it is well to define a few words which I will use throughout this disclosure. I will refer to the body of a guitar, banjo or mandolin as the "box" and the portion spaced-apart from the box, and on which the various strings are tightened or wound, as the head. Thus, between the box and the head is the neck, upon the top surface of which is the fingerboard. Spaced along and transverse the fingerboard/neck are the multiplicity of ridge fixing points or frets. The bridge is located in the lower portion of the box and the strings are stretched from the bottom of the box over the bridge and to the tuning keys located in the head. There is a nut, similar to a small bridge, between the fingerboard and the head and over which the strings pass before engagement with the tuning key's capstans. Thus, the length of the strings is essentially the same, running from the nut to the bridge. The straight frets, transverse the neck (in conventional arrangement), underlie the strings and form generally right angles with them. When not in play, all of the strings are disposed above the neck in a stand-apart relationship with all of the frets. In the conventional guitar, or fretted instrument, the strings may be tuned through three octaves, the frets being parallel and spaced variably in correspondence with the musical scale for which the instrument is devised. Thus, when I speak of moving longitudinally "down string", I mean in the direction of the box, from the first or lower octave towards the second or higher octave. The instant invention does not attempt to depart radically from the methods used to play the guitar in that, during the "fingering" of the various notes, the player would still place his fingers in the conventional position for acquiring a certain "natural" note or chord, and there would contact a fret at the conventional fret-string location. The art discovered during my patent search is not seen to depart from most of the conventional incidents of the various instruments. In Japanese patent 1-197792, the traditional neck length of an instrument is retained, along with the space arrangement of the various frets. However, in the second octave, the frets are diminished in length by at least 50%. This has the effect of rendering approximately one-half the strings without companion frets in the second octave. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,392,618, a multirange fretted guitar-type instrument is disclosed in which the base of the neck is slanted as it is attached to the box, but a bridge is retained in the conventional position. The neck is expanded in two steps so that four strings are provided from the head to the box along the neck portion, four strings are provided from the nut portion of the first step, running to the bridge; and four strings are additionally provided at the second step nut to the bridge. Thus, the patentee of '618 has provided a string/fretted instrument of remarkable range, for example from contralto (such as banjo) to bass (such as bass guitar). Still, the frets remain in the conventional or traditional positions so that what is taught is unusual regarding the span of the frets but not in their physical relationship to the strings.
What is most noticeable in the conventional art is that when the string is pressed to a fret and plucked or strummed, a particular note emanates from a properly tuned string that is dependent upon the tension of the string and its length, as determined by the distance between the fret and bridge. Moving the string back and forth across the fret would generally increase the pitch because of the increase of string tension. To effect a similar pitch change, the finger evoking the desired note would have to be moved slightly up or down string, that is, towards the head or towards the box, respectively. Movement of the fingertip towards the head would lengthen the fret to bridge distance, thus lowering the pitch. Moving the fingertip toward the box would shorten the fret to bridge distance, thus raising the pitch. In normal play, the fingers are pressed just behind the frets and the movement or rolling of the finger up or down string requires a high degree of dexterity and some (to varying degree) rotation/derotation of the wrist. I sought to, and succeeded in, devising a new fret arrangement that would allow the player to acquire a great deal of vibrato, yet not be required to move the finger up or down the string. It was my objective to obtain a better vibrato with a more natural push-pull of the finger on the string such as may be done in a conventional guitar but would only evoke a rise in pitch.